The Ivy Walls

Chapter 13

She lunged at Owen first. She swung one of her slimy black tentacles towards him with a screech. Owen reacted with the reflexes and agility of a cat. Gwen darted to grab the tentacle closest to her and plunged her dagger deep into it. A shrill scream erupted from all around them. The group covered their ears in pain at the sheer volume of the sound.

Fin was first to attack again, with Teddi not too far behind him. Both sprung at her with their daggers at the ready. Mickey and Dale decided they'd watch the two's backs and follow them into battle. Gwen, Jesse and Owen chose to make a proper plan of attack by observing the monster's fighting style.

After a while of the four fighting against the tentacles but not able get close to the girl, Jesse managed to figure out a plan and her fighting style. He barked out the plan to the rest of the group. "She's fighting in defensive! Fin and Teddi, you two try to cut off her tentacles! They seem to be her main source of defence! Mickey! You try to clear a way for Dale! Dale, I need you to get real close and stab her in the heart, she seems to be trying to protect that area of herself the most! Got it?" He explained as quickly as he could. 

A chorus of yes's came from the fighting group, who jumped right into action. Teddi and Fin tried chopping off her tentacles, but they were a lot thicker then expected. Jesse turned to explain to Gwen and Owen his plan for them but they had determined grins on their faces and already knew what to do, make a path for Dale to get close.

The group set into action. Dale was running as quick as he could, which was almost inhumanly fast. He was swinging his weapon around, slashing at every writhing, ugly black tentacle that came near him. The rest of the group was in front of him now, cutting away at the disgusting slimy appendages in their way. All that could be heard was the sound of the team yelling their battle cries and the demon-girl shrieking.

Owen was slammed against the wall, tears welled up in his eyes at the impact, with Fin rushing to check on him. Teddi was lifted off the floor, holding on for dear life. She was flung down the corridor and crashed against the floor with a loud thud. Mickey ran to check if she was still conscious. She wasn't.

Gwen and Jesse finally cut off the last of the devil-child's tentacles and Dale sprung forwards to stab her. "Hit her heart! It should be her weakness!" Jesse reminded him. Dale nodded as he ran and leapt towards hr with one final burst. He was 3 metres away from her. Two metres. One. Then BAM! 

The blade hit her right where her heart would be. But nothing happened. The knife's handle stuck out of her chest like a mild annoyance and nothing more. Everyone paused. Dale slowly looked up and looked her in the eye. For the first time, her lips moved. Into a horrific smile, splitting up her cheeks all the way up to her eyes, showing glistening white fangs. almost like shark teeth.

Then all of her tentacles, previously cut off, started bubbling back, growing back into tentacles. Jesse stepped forward to tell Dale to get back but it was too late. Another noise could be heard, a faint rumbling noise. It was getting closer. And louder. Soon Jesse, Dale, Gwen and the monster girl could see that it was a tall monster with thick, slimy black tentacles protruding from his head. He was wearing a suit, covered in blood splatters and black inky ooze.

Everyone froze in fear, even the small demon-girl was still. Dale took this chance of her being distracted to grab his dagger out of her chest and tried to behead her instead. But before he could even get his blade close to her head, the other monster screeched as loudly as it could and lurched forward. It snatched Dale and the monster girl up and darted off before the rest of the group could do anything.

"DALE!" Jesse ad Gwen shrieked in unison, both equally as shocked. Mickey, Fin and Owen stumbled towards the other two, Teddi in Mickey's arms. "It just... just took him.." Fin said in complete disbelief that Dale was gone. 

"We need to get him back!" Jesse shouted, tears welling up in his eyes. "Jesse," Mickey had a soft tone, "None of us are in fit enough condition to go after him, hell, Teddi isn't even conscious right now. We need to recover, then we can go after him." He explained. "I-I know, but who knows what they cou- what they could do to him! He could already be dead!" Jesse exclaimed, panicking at what they could do to Dale. They were monsters after all.

-

They all finally managed to convince Jesse that they needed to recover first. The group sat in an uncomfortable silence. No one knew what to say. Teddi was still out cold, but her wounds were no worse then a couple of cuts and bruises, and of course, a concussion. The rest were all aching and littered with cuts and bruises themselves. Although Jesse had the same injuries as the others, he waa the only one walking around. No matter what anyone said to him, he wouldn't stop pacing in circles, running through all of the possible things Dale could be going through and how he could get him back.

No one wanted to say anything to Jesse. No one wanted to say anything at all. Except Fin. He was talking to himself, trying to reassure himself that Dale would be ok. "It's ok, he's going to be ok, it's all ok." He kept mumbling to himself. Jesse knew he was an asshole but he felt for him a bit. 

After a while of Fin spiralling into a panicked state and rambling almost complete gibberish, it had caught on to Gwen, Mickey and Jesse too. Soon enough everyone was panicking. Except Owen and Teddi, who was still unconscious.

"Can you shut up?" Owen snapped. Everyone blinked in surprise. "I mean, I get that you secretly care about everyone and hide it behind your asshole-ish facade but come on. Dale will be fine! He's the toughest person out of all of us and if anyone is gonna be able to last a while surrounded by monsters, it's Dale." 

Owen glared at Fin for spiralling into a panic and making everyone else panic too. Jesse knew that little speech was for Fin but he felt that it was a little for the rest of the group too. The whole group felt less anxious. "Yeah, you're right, Dale will be fine. He's like a literal sunshine! And nothing can put out the sun! Not even those bastards of monsters!" Gwen agreed with Owen.

The rest of the group nodded and looked to Jesse who still looked skeptical. "Come on, you of all of us should know that Dale can handle almost anything." Gwen playfully punched Jesse's arm. He slowly looked up and stared her in the eye. He was determined. "Yeah, he can handle Hell and worse and still wear a smile." Jesse stated, imitating Dale's famous grin.

Wow! Look at me go! Weeks without a single update then two chapters in one day! Woohoo. By the way guys. It's my birthday tomorrow, I turn 15 my dudes. Hell yeah. Happy birthday to me bitches lmao. Anyway this was a really good chapter, I'm super proud of this one. A lot happened in this one. What do you guys think will happen to Dale? I know, you don't haha. The power I have right now. I could kill him, I could make him join the monsters, I could make him insane, I could make him defeat the monsters alone, I could make him disappear. the possibilities are endless. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Anyways, I guess you'll just have to find out in the next chapter or two, or maybe even three. Who knows. You certainly don't lmao. Ok, ok I'll stop talking now lol.

Word Count: 1372